Where To Be Merry: Karaoke @ The Backstage

The Merriment: Karaoke Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights

The Location: Culver City

The Vibes: A very down-to-earth, dive bar

Good for: A lively place just to hang out, with inexpensive booze and appetizers and great entertainment

When-To-Go: Happy hour 4-7pm daily; Karaoke Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights; Trivia World Sundays; $5 Burgers and Fries Mondays; Taco Tuesdays; and live music on Wednesdays

The $ Factor: $; Drinks are $3-$9 and food during happy hour is $3-$5

The Menu: See drink menu here

I’ll Be Back…: To watch the karaoke performances, which vary from love ballads to hard rock, rap, 80s pop and Top 40 hits

The 4-1-1: Directly across from Sony Studios, this neighborhood bar has been around for more than 75 years

Why it’s on #WilsonsGuide:

The Backstage is one of those bars that’s great to go to no matter what day of the week it is. Many elements add to the wonderfulness of this place – the fact that it’s never a hassle to get in, the strong libations, the satisfying food, the many activities to do (pool, trivia games, karaoke) and last but not least, the dapper crowd – an eclectic, energetic mix of Angelenos who are always down for a good time.

For the karaoke. The karaoke, by far, is the best aspect of Backstage, in my opinion. You never know who’s going to take the stage next, but you know it’s going to be a good performance. We’ve all been to karaoke joints where the performers are either absolutely horrible or they take themselves way too seriously. But here, singers have the right balance of talent and carefree swag. I’ve found myself sometimes laughing, sometimes clapping along, sometimes staring and thinking “what is going on,” and always, always, always extremely amused and entertained.

For the appetizers. At any given dive bar, you’d expect greasy, over-salted food to be the norm, but here, while they still serve standard bar snacks, everything just taste like it’s golden fried to perfection. Some of my favorites include the spicy buffalo wings and beer battered onion rings, and you absolutely have to get a side of garlic fries.

For the cheap cocktails. Backstage’s cocktails are very reasonably priced, especially for how strong they are. I also appreciate the creative names, i.e., the Culver City Slut, Absolutely F**king Fabulous and Day of the Dead. But, of course, most importantly, they’re strong and cheap. Plus, they’re always having specials of the night and some sort of chilled shots.

So the next time you’re in the mood for a little karaoke and a lot of fun, I highly recommend this Culver City hangout destination. See you there soon!

For more information:
The Backstage; Facebook; @BackstageCC